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Chemical Company Pleads Guilty to Price Fixing

On June 16, 2016, GEO Specialty Chemicals, Inc. pled guilty in New Jersey federal court to price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act. According to the plea agreement, GEO will pay $5 million in installments over five years. The Department of Justice (DOJ) alleged that GEO played a role in a cartel that fixed prices for liquid aluminum sulfate, which is used to treat drinking water and wastewater and in paper manufacturing. As part of the agreement, GEO will report to the DOJ regarding antitrust compliance and remediation efforts. This is the first corporate prosecution to emerge from the DOJ’s ongoing investigation into price fixing, bid rigging and customer allocation in the liquid aluminum sulfate industry. One individual defendant has pled guilty and two others have been indicted in connection with the alleged conspiracy.

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